breastfeeding???

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How wound I count breastfeeding?

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  • aliparker1982
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    I want to know this too
  • llanham611
    llanham611 Posts: 1 Member
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    I would like to know too! I just had my second daughter a little over 3 weeks ago and I want to start eating better. Should we just up our calories? All of my research says that we need at least 1800 calories a day to maintain our supply and burn 300-800 calories per day making milk.

    I have about 25 lbs to go!
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
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    The given figures for lactation seem to be around 500 - 700 calories per day, with around 100-200 being used from maternal fat stores.

    Some reading here...

    http://www.madeformums.com/baby/what-to-eat-when-youre-breastfeeding/21417.html

    http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/why-breastfeed.aspx

    Work the numbers in to your net calories and make sure you come out and the end of the day with a reasonable number.
  • karafornia
    karafornia Posts: 10 Member
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    Thanks guys, this helps a lot!
  • jmagdalena707
    jmagdalena707 Posts: 28 Member
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    I am EBF my 8 week old and also pump an additional 6-8oz a day for freezer stash. I have MFP set at a 1lb a week loss and log Breastfeeding as exercise( I added it manually to my exercises.)

    Right now I eat back 300-400 cals to support my milk supply. Some days I eat more, but I never net less than 1800 cals per day. So far I'm losing consistently and my milk supply has not dropped.

    I also eat steel cut oatmeal most mornings and drink 2-3 cups of mothers milk tea each day to support supply.

    Congrats on your LO and good luck!

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    You can actually find Breastfeeding in the food database.

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    When you add it to your food log, it shows up as negative calories which gives you more calories to eat.
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  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    When I was EBF I just added 500 calories a day.
  • TiffanyR71
    TiffanyR71 Posts: 217 Member
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    I was doing W.W. when I bf my son and made sure to have enough calories, including watching nutrition- the weight absolutely melted off! I had gained 40+ lbs and was very slightly overweight to begin with- ended up back to pre-pregnancy weight in 3 months. Especially as baby gets bigger 3-6 mo, their consumption helps you burn off all that weight! Drink a ton of water, do some casual exercise, eat healthy (and enough) & your body will bounce back! Good luck and enjoy! :)
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    I eat an extra 500 calories a day to account for BFing my 3 month old. I use the food database as shown above! Once they start eating solid food you should drop down to 300.